Podcast 03 Relationship to you

Just begin to notice how it is that you feel. Without shifting or changing or judging or assessing, but just allow yourself to feel. As we think about the word yoga, it is a living thing, and it is also something that is constantly changing. So, the word yoga in many ways is an experience of relationship. So to be curious about what kind of relationship you're creating not only to the inside ... you know, we often talk about relationship to the soul, which we can't really get to the soul until we've let go of some of the other garbage. So that relationship can be really to anything, but just to be curious. We often think about our relationships at work, relationships with maybe our kids, relationships with our family, relationships with our significant others, but what about relationship to you? To your nature? To getting to know what it is that you need today?

I don't believe, I don't come from the mindset that thinks the same kind of yoga every single day, the same kind of thought form every single day. The refinement as you go deeper into your yoga practice is to really learn what truly is going to benefit you today. What kind of food is there to take in, how much water? And what kind of exercise, what kind of movement, what kind of meditation? We forget to ... I notice it especially in teacher training, having done it over a number of years now, that people's tendency to really be the most violent is towards themselves in thought, in action, in emotion. If you can just even be aware of that, if that comes up for you. Okay, and then to ask yourself if it's useful. Where can you be kinder and more compassionate and patient and deeply connected?

I would say with that accepting, each one of us comes onto the planet made a certain way. We have what they call Prakriti or your soul and the karma, and you're here to do something specific. You're here to learn something specific and to offer something specific. So how you were made is part of how we know when we're out of balance, and it's also how we know it's our gifts. So just for example, if I tend to be a more fiery, passionate by nature kind of individual, it's my way that I'll probably go out of balance, and I'll be irritable and angry, you could say. That might be one way it's going to show up. But you can use that then as an opportunity to come back to your nature. So you don't deny that nature, instead we start to work with it and to use it, your passion, say your lights, your brightness, and it fuels you to do whatever it is that you're called to do.

So not trying to be the person next to you or the person that maybe you think you should be. But instead to embrace who you are in this moment to develop a deeper relationship. These are a whole practice. That's what we're always talking about, right? How do you relate? And you could pick anything. How do relate to yourself this moment? How are you relating to something that you might have said this morning? How do you relate to something that you are thinking? How do you relate to your body? Then we hold the space, that's one calling of yoga is to leave no room for judgments, but to hold the space and be curious. And how can you use those things to help elevate yourself, which will then of course make you better available for others.

So take a final moment with the eyes closed. Have the internal gaze up towards the third eye. For today, just notice where you might be able to soften a little bit more. Maybe the shoulders. I tend to hold the shoulders up slightly. So just knowing that, and you can begin to broaden. The legs, maybe the leg muscles are kind of engaged in pulling up away from the grounds. Can you soften? 'Cause really, it's through the space and the presence that you get to know what is happening. Then you can become that master, they'll call it in the teachings. Being the master of your own destiny and the master of your own prana, the master of how you're going to use what you've been given to create.

See if you can allow just that idea that you can keep this internal state, even as we begin. Take a deeper breath. The invitation is to create a useful day. May this moment right now be your best relationship. From that relationship, what will you offer? So the invitation maybe to celebrate your individual gifts as you move throughout your day, throughout your practice, throughout your breath, to use this time to acknowledge and notice your Prakriti, how you were made, some of your personality characteristics, your tendencies to be more emotional around some things versus others, being less emotional, being calm maybe.

Where are you calm, where are you patient, where are you fiery, where are you lethargic? So it doesn't matter what you're noticing, but it's that when it isn't something that is serving us, we can begin to redirect it, to move the energy into a more uplifting kind of thought form and experience. That's a big part of learning our karmic lessons. As we begin to uplift, we then have the opportunity for clarity, and from that clarity you get to create, and you get to serve and you get to offer and you get to be you. We are light, we are love, we are peace. Namaste.